


Welcome to your first day with the Rebel Alliance

by halfeatenmoon



Category: Star Wars (Marvel Comics)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 05:11:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16804270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfeatenmoon/pseuds/halfeatenmoon
Summary: "At least they let me keep you," Pash said to Bruce, as they shuffled down the hall. "Why did I do this?"[I believe it was because you were hot for the Princess,] Bruce replied.





	Welcome to your first day with the Rebel Alliance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [saiditallbefore](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saiditallbefore/gifts).



Pash Devane woke up on her first morning as a member of the Rebel Alliance and wondered what the fuck she’d done. She was still ship-lagged from the long journey and had been placed in this barracks room late last night, when the rest of its inhabitants were already asleep. Now there was an alarm blaring to wake them all up, the sound of the bunkmates around her getting up, and Pash had nowhere near enough sleep.

“Was my old life perfect? Of course not,” she said to herself, staring up at the base of the bunk above her. “But at least I was doing my thing and not in a barracks with these… soldiers.”

“What was that?” asked the person in the bunk above, his face appearing upside-down over the edge.

“Nothing,” Pash replied. She pushed herself up off the bed and realised she’d have to start watching how she talked to herself.

“You both better get up,” said another of their roommates, who was somehow - really, how? - already dressed.

“Or what? They’re going to discipline me?”

She rolled her eyes. “Or all the good breakfast is gone, newbie. I’m trying to help you out here.”

The breakfast was okay. Pash could give it that. But she had to eat it with these other people, in assigned meal shifts, and after that she had to report somewhere else to get her duty roster, and none of it felt much like being in a noble resistance movement fighting for the freedom of the galaxy any more. It felt like… well. Pash hadn’t been worked this hard since she was at school.

“At least they let me keep you,” Pash grumbled to Bruce, as she left the registrar’s office with a pile of uniform duds and more orders to report to yet another senior officer. “You’ll help me escape if it all goes pear shaped.”

[We are nowhere near water. I would not be much assistance.] Bruce replied.

She groaned groaned. “Why did I agree to this?”

[I believe it was because you were hot for the Princess.]

“I changed my mind. I’m escaping without you.”  
  


At least Pash got to work on engineering again. Not underwater, unfortunately; Rebels had to go where the Alliance needed them, and right now that was on Hoth. She wasn't sure yet that it was  _ better _ than trying to find other work on her homeworld, but it was a change. The part where she got to get her hands dirty in work that she knew was  _ good _ , it was really good. She'd only had a small taste of it, but trying to make machinery work in the sub-freezing temperatures on Hoth was the kind of challenge she could get her teeth into.

Still, there were other places to be an engineer, and so far the Rebel Alliance was not her favourite. Pash was used to the crowds of the marketplace back home, but it was another thing altogether to be crowded into a military base with hundreds of strangers and no escape. And then there was the military structure of it all - Pash had only ever worked for herself, or worked on her own terms, and as nice as the Rebel leaders were, she felt herself chafing at the knowledge that everything she did was under command. She didn't feel like she was part of a brave group of rebels fighting for the freedom of the galaxy, the way she had by the end of her adventure with Leia. She mostly just felt like she was being bossed around, and not even for very good pay.

By the end of the day, Pash was really not sure she would stick around for long, until someone caught her arm when she was on the way back to her quarters that night. When she saw the diminutive Princess at her side again, Pash felt a rush of relief, and then embarrassment, and then an overwhelming sense that maybe joining the Rebel Alliance did make sense after all.

_ You’re a fool, Pash,  _ she thought to herself.  _ You joined a war for a pretty girl and you wouldn’t change anything. _

“Your Highness,” Pash said, stiffly.

Leia raised an eyebrow. “It’s ‘Your Highness’, now?”

“I’m supposed to be a good soldier now. Use terms of respect and everything. Gotta be obedient to be a rebel, isn’t that right?”

Leia did not look impressed. “I was just coming along to see how you were settling in after your first day, but if you're still ready to mock me then I can assume you’re doing fine.”

Pash was just about ready to bite her tongue. “Wait. You’d do that for me?”

“Of course,” Leia said, looking almost hurt. “People are the most important asset to the Rebel Alliance. I want to make sure people have everything they need.”

“I do now,” Pash blurted out.

Leia blinked at her again. “Now that you have an engineering job? Or is it that we gave you some clothes that actually fit you?”

“Shut up.” She could slap herself in the face, she was so mortified by how this was going. “I mean, uh, thanks for checking up on me.”

“It’s my pleasure.” Leia coughed and looked around. “Walk with me for a moment, would you?”

Pash followed, mystified, as Leia led her through the winding corridors, narrow and crowded with people moving, always moving in a hurry to get somewhere else. It should be easy to lose sight of Leia in the rush of bodies, but the Alliance seemed to part around her, or heads turned to her, or… or something Pash couldn’t say what. It was just impossible to not know where Leia was, if you were looking for her, like Pash’s gaze was magnetically drawn to her wherever they went.

So much so, in fact, that Pash had almost drifted into a trance and it shook her when Leia suddenly stopped and said, “This is my quarters.”

She was holding open the door.

“Oh?” Pash had to duck her head a fraction to get under the doorframe, which wasn’t unusual on Hoth. “Did you need to speak in private? Have I fucked something up already?”

“No, you haven’t.” Leia stepped in after her, but she was still holding the door open. “And we might need some privacy in a moment, but right now I want you to know that you can still leave. Nothing I’m about to say is an order, and you’re free to leave at any time. We’ll never speak of it again.”

Pash felt like there was a roaring in her ears from the sudden rush of blood to her face. “Sorry?”

Leia gave her a half-smile. “Pash, this is a war. We don’t get many free moments, we don’t get much time to enjoy ourselves, and we all know we could die any day. It’s worth the risk to fight for the freedom of the galaxy, and I know you understand that, but the free time we have is so, so precious.”

“Right,” Pash said, her voice cracking. Right. The freedom of the galaxy. That’s what she was here for.

“Look, I… I’m not very good at this,” Leia admitted. “I spend too much time being a politician and a general to be a romantic. But I was wondering, if and only if you really want to, if you would spend the evening in bed with me rather than socialising with the other rank and file members.”

Pash desperately wanted to kiss her, but it felt like her mouth was too dry.

“Obviously this is quite selfish of me, asking you to spend your second night in the Alliance with me instead of with your comrades, but I hoped you would do me the honour of -”

“Shut up.” Pash was surprised to find her voice came out in a growl.

“Excuse me?”

“Just what I said,” Pash said, and reached out to tug the door out of Leia’s hands and slam it shut. She only had a moment to take in Leia’s wide eyed stare before she pulled the smaller woman against her and claimed her mouth in a crushing kiss.


End file.
